Cleveland Decorative Art zoom presentation by Ware Petznick and Dale Hilton.

1. Mocha and Dipped Ware:
Resources for Collectors Dale Hilton & Dr Ware Petznick
Cleveland Decorative Arts
18 May 2021

2. “There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t
stop and look at the pieces within and
appreciate their variation, color, and design.”
~husband of interior designer

3. “There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t
stop and look at the pieces within and
appreciate their variation, color, and design.”
~husband of interior designer

4. What is Mochaware?
Factory-made, lathe-turned, refined
utilitarian earthenwares whose principal
decoration is manipulated slip.
~ Jonathan Rickard, Mocha and Related
Dipped Wares, 1770-1939.

5. Why is it called Mocha?
Former Red Sea port city in Yemen (al Mukha), place of export for famed coffee beans.
Dendritic chalcedony is said to have originated from Mocha.
.
European factories at Mocha in the late 17th century

6. What is dendritic chalcedony?
.
Dendritic chalcedony is said to have originated from Mocha.
Chalcedony is a microcrystalline, translucent variety of quartz, often milky or grayish. Moss agate—
features green dendritic designs AND Dendritic chalcedony is whitish-gray or colorless chalcedony with
tree- or fern-like markings known as dendrites.

7. What is dendritic chalcedony?
.
Dendritic chalcedony is said to have originated from Mocha.
Chalcedony is a microcrystalline, translucent variety of quartz, often milky or grayish. Moss agate—
features green dendritic designs AND Dendritic chalcedony is whitish-gray or colorless chalcedony
with tree- or fern-like markings known as dendrites.
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21785/lot
/8028/?category=list

8. When was mochaware first made?
.
No known inventor, but focused around Stoke ca. 1800
First archaeological source for a mochaware object comes from the wreck of the HMS
Nymphe in the British West Indies, which burned in 1783. So soon before that seems a
likely starting date for mochaware design upon British ceramics (beakers).
Creamware tankard 1770s. American
Revolution Museum
John Howard (UK) tankard ca. 1800 MartyNedgell (UK) Pearlware tankard ca. 1800

9. Why were ceramics decorated in slip?
.
No known inventor, but focused around Stoke ca. 1800
Less expensive process than hand painting or transferware. Slip decoration, simple
stripes, engine- or roulette-turning was easier and thus less expensive to produce by
comparison. It was for the common man, utilitarian and often quickly made.
NOT TO BE CONFUSED with AGATEWARE, ca.
1889
John Howard (UK) tankard ca. 1800 MartyNedgell (UK) Pearlware tankard ca. 1800

10. For the Public House

11. For the Public House
Tap Room in Church Street, City of London,
recorded in 1880 by the artist John Crowther

12. For the Public House
From film The Story of English Inns, 1944

13. Why made?
1700
Act “for ascertaining the Measures for retailing Ale and Beer” vessels “made of
wood, earth, glass, horn, leather, pewter or of some other good and wholesome
metal”
1745 > glass was taxed by weight fine engravings of hops, barley and so on.
These engraved glasses held just five ounces (14cl) of strong beer or ale, or less.
But they were still restricted to the rich
1825 Pittsburgh first patent for commercial pressed glass
1833 The first glass-pressing machine in Britain was installed at the Wordsley
Flint Glass Works in Stourbridge
1879 ale in a glass tumbler cost more than the same drink in a pewter mug: two
pence per half pint, against one and a half pence.
1878-2007 Weights and Measures Act of 1878, drinking vessels had to bear an
Official Stamp Number, either acid etched or sand-blasted through a stencil
http://zythophile.co.uk/2015/03/28/more-notes-towards-a-history-of-the-beer-mug/
Mochaware pint
mug stamped GR
19 for Derbyshire,
made by TG Green
of Church Gresley,
Derbyshire

14. The designs
Incollector.com

15. Dendritic/Seaweed
Selected Patterns
(tobacco leaf, lollipop,
balloon, palmette)
Dendritic
(seaweed)
Cats eye Dipped Fan Rouletted band
(green)

16. Dendritic/Seaweed
Selected Patterns
(tobacco leaf, lollipop,
balloon, palmette)
Dendritic
(seaweed)
Cats eye Dipped Fan Rouletted band
(green)
https://apps.jefpat
.maryland.gov/dia
gnostic/Post-
Colonial%20Cera
mics/DiptWares/L
argeImagePages/
SolidColorSlipFiel
dAndBanded/18B
C27-
BowlBandedInOr
angeAndBlack.ht
ml

17. Dendritic/Seaweed

18. Dendritic
Seaweed/Tree/Dandelion
METHOD: Release drops of a
"mocha tea" solution containing
ingredients such as urine, tobacco
juice, ground iron scale, and hops
onto the wet slip-coated surface
of the vessel. The design spreads
when the acidic solution comes
into contact with the slip.

19. Dendrites
Acidic solution meets
the slip on the body of
the vessel producing
the vein-like
dendrites.

20. Twig
This method was produced
when the tip of the slip cup
was dragged across the
vessel surface in a series of
connected, opposing
motions and was used as a
decorative technique
throughout the 19th
century
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/two-british-creamware-and-pearlware-
mochaware-twi-13-c-3694c889ab
British creamware 1820-35

21. Dipped/Dipt Earthenware
Type of dipped ware Beginning production date End production date
Solid color slip fields and banded wares 1770s Early 20th century
Variegated surfaces Late 18th century (Rickard 2006:24)
In decline by first decade of 19th century
(Rickard 2006:24)
Engine turned c. 1770s (Carpentier and Rickard 2001:116) Late 19th century (Rickard 2006:39)
Mocha 1790s (Rickard 2006:54) 1939 (Rickard 2006:54)
Multi-chambered slip (cat’s eyes, cabling,
twigging)
1811 patent for multi-chambered slip pot
(Rickard 2006:13)
Twigging produced throughout 19th century
Fan decoration c. 1805 (Rickard 2006:101) c. 1840 (Rickard 2006:101)

22. Greengate Works
Mochaware was made by William Adams of the
Greengates factory, Tunstall, England (1745-
1805). Some claim they were the first to
produce it.
Adams produced white ware, creamware and
yelloware with mocha dendritic designs upon
banded fields from their Staffordshire factory.
The ca 1845 cup below was sent to Galveston
Island in 1866 during the Civil War and was
recovered from a shipwreck.
https://www.historicsitesandshipwreck
s.com/product/seaweed-design-
english-mocha-ware/

23. Banding
Common decorative
technique among the
many types of
ceramics generally
known as mochaware.
Colored slip is applied
in lines of various
widths to produce
fields or bands.

24. Cat’s Eye
Common decorative
technique among the
many types of
ceramics generally
known as mochaware.
Colored slip is applied
in a three-sectioned
cup – and dropped to
create the single disc
with three colors.

25. Tools of the Trade
Tap Room in Church Street, City of London,
recorded in 1880 by the artist John Crowther

26. What tools were used to create Mochaware?
.
From the ceramicdictionary.com

27. What mocha designs does this produce?
.
What mochaware designs can this produce?

28. What mocha designs does this produce?
.

29. Earthworm/Cabled
Common decorative
technique among the
many types of
ceramics generally
known as mochaware.
Colored slip is applied
in a three-sectioned
cup – and dropped in
curved loops or
waves.

30. Fan/Lollipop
Common decorative
technique among the
many types of
ceramics generally
known as mochaware.
Colored slip is applied
in a three-sectioned
cup – and poured into
a bowl then the vessel
is dipped in the tri-
color slip.

32. Rouletted bands
Common decorative
technique among the
many types of
ceramics generally
known as mochaware.
A pattern is impressed
upon the clay by
rolling it on.

33. Checkerboards
Common decorative
technique among the
many types of
ceramics generally
known as mochaware.
A pattern is impressed
upon the clay by
rolling it on
(sometimes known as
engine turning).

35. Variegated surfaces
Marble slip/
combed marble slip

36. Faux Agateware = Marbled slipware
Common decorative
technique among the
many types of
ceramics generally
known as mochaware.
Colored slip is applied
as an allover surface
decoration (or in large
bands) to mimic
authentic agateware.
See Michelle Erickson’s V&A agateware teapot reproduction video!

37. Faux Agateware = Marbled slipware
Common decorative
technique among the
many types of
ceramics generally
known as mochaware.
Colored slip is applied
as an allover surface
decoration (or in large
bands) to mimic
authentic agateware.
Archaeological discoveries in Maryland

47. Remember these shavings? Nothing is wasted!

48. Surface decorated Agate ware/ speckled ware

49. French Mocha ware

51. Museum collections to explore

52. Bibliography

53. Sources for Collectors

54. 20th century Reproductions

55. Resources

56. You Tube Videos

57. Up Next